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Sunday, 5 February 2017

5th February

This Pinkfoot was with the small Greylag flock in the Bottom
Fields on Friday but had gone by the next day. Although Pinks are occasionally seen
flying over the parish this is actually the first I’ve ever seen on the ground
in the village…

Along the river I had my first Oystercatcher of the year…

These are usually the earliest harbinger of spring in the parish
although there were other reminders of the coming season with the first
Skylarks singing today and half a dozen woodpeckers drumming.

I also spent a good half hour trying to catch up with a
bunting I flushed from the river bank. It was creeping through the short turf here and I had thoughts
of Lapland (or rarer!) but it was just this female Reed…

Along Greenhills Lane this morning I added a pair of Grey
Partridge and a small flock of Linnet to my year list. A group of 40+ Tree
Sparrows were in the ‘Avenue’ and I would have had a rather nice portrait of
one of them if it hadn’t turned its head at the last minute!

In the medievally muddy sheep fields near the ruined barn…

there were small numbers of Greylags…

…along with 100 Black-headed Gulls, 30 Lapwing, a couple of
dozen Pied Wagtails and a handful of Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings. Thrush
flocks also seem to be building up again with around 150 Fieldfare and 50 odd
Redwings…

Other sightings over the last week included Barn Owl and two
Little Owls on the Thrintoft road. I was really pleased to see the Barn Owl as
they have been disturbingly scarce this winter after the bumper crop last year.

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" Men that undertake only one district are much more likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more than they can possibly be acquainted with ; every kingdom, every province, should have its own monographer."Gilbert White — The Natural History of Selborne.This blog covers the birds and other wildlife in the parish of Ainderby Steeple, North Yorkshire.